1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric connector for card.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A card incorporating a storage medium, such as a PC card, is inserted into a slot formed in the housing of an electronic device to be connected with a connector inside thereof for use, and after use, it can be drawn out with a disconnection mechanism. This disconnection mechanism generally comprises an eject bar, an eject lever, and a plate. The eject bar extends along the direction of insertion of the card in parallel with the side end surface of the card, and the rear end of it is provided with an operation pushbutton, being located outside of the housing, while the front end of it is engaged with the eject lever. The eject lever, which is made of a plate material, is located in parallel with and close to the card surface perpendicular to the side end surface, and can be freely turned in the plate plane as a lever. One end of this eject lever is engaged with the eject bar, and by the pressing pressure from the eject bar, the eject lever is turned. The direction of this turning force is inverted at the point of application formed in the portion opposite to the turning fulcrum, resulting in a plate which can be moved in the direction of insertion and drawing-out of the card being pressed. The plate has a hook portion which is engaged with the front end of the card in the direction of insertion, pressing the card in the direction of drawing-out with the hook portion to disconnect the card from the connector for allowing it to be drawn out.
For electronic devices using a card, such as a personal computer, reduction in size is a constant demand. However, if the above-stated disconnection mechanism is adopted, it is difficult to reduce the size of a device along the direction of the width of the card. The reason for this is in the portion where the eject bar is engaged with the eject lever. Generally, as shown in FIG. 6, one end of an eject lever 51 is protruded to the outside of an eject bar 52 along the direction of the width of the card, where it is bent, and the bent portion 53 is inserted into an engaging groove 54 in the eject bar 52 for engagement. And, the eject bar 52 must press the eject lever 51 by the bent portion 53, and accommodate the turning movement of the bent portion given by the turning of the eject lever 51. Therefore, the engaging portion is greatly protruded from the side surface of the eject bar 52 along the direction of the width. For only this engagement portion, the dimension along the direction of the width of the disconnecting mechanism, i.e., the electronic device is increased.
With the electric connector for card according to the present invention, a card is inserted into a slot formed in the housing to be connected with a connector inside thereof, and the card is drawn out from the connector with a disconnection mechanism. The disconnection mechanism has an eject bar and an eject lever. The eject bar is disposed in parallel with the side end surface of the card extending along the direction of insertion and drawing-out of the card, being provided in the form of a long plate which can be moved along the direction of insertion and drawing-out. And, the eject lever is disposed roughly in parallel with the card surface perpendicular to the side end surface, comprising a plate which can be turned as a lever. The eject lever is engaged with the eject bar at one end to receive a turning force, and at the other end or in the middle portion, transmit the turning force to the card directly or indirectly as a card drawing-out force.
With such an electric connector of the present invention, the eject bar has a pressing piece bent so as to be in parallel with the card surface, and the plate thickness surface of the pressing piece forms a pressing surface to be contacted with the eject lever. On the other hand, the plate thickness surface of a portion of the eject lever forms a pressed surface which can be contacted with the pressing surface, so that the pressed surface can receive a pressing force from the pressing surface as a force to turn the eject lever.
With the present invention providing such a configuration, one end of the eject lever will not protrude to the outside of the position of the eject bar.
The pressing piece of the eject bar for engagement of the eject bar with the eject lever is bent toward the card surface, the plate thickness surface of the pressing piece forming a pressing surface, and the pressing surface being contacted with the plate thickness surface of a part of the eject lever. In other words, the space required for the eject bar to be contacted or engaged with the eject lever is within the plate thickness of the pressing piece or a dimension close to it. This pressing piece, i.e., the eject bar has a small plate thickness, and with conventional electric connectors for card, such a space has been left unused amply around the mechanism for turning the eject lever, thus, with the present invention, the engagement portion can be contained in this space. This means that no additional space is required. Thus, with the present invention, the disconnecting mechanism can be made more compact along the direction of the width with no need for increasing the dimension along the direction of the thickness of the card.
With the present invention, the disconnecting mechanism has a positional restriction section which allows the eject bar and the eject lever restrict each other in the direction perpendicular to the card surface, and it is preferable that the positional restriction section is comprised of a restricting piece parallel with the card surface which is provided for at least one of the eject bar and the eject lever, and a surface of at least one of the eject bar and the eject lever which is subject to restriction in the direction perpendicular to the card surface by the restricting piece.
Because the pressing surface of the eject bar and the pressed surface of the eject lever are approximately within the range of the plate thickness of the pressing piece, thus, the relative positions of them may be varied, however, by providing the above-stated positional restriction section, occurrence of variation in the relative position can be prevented, thus, the pressing surface and the pressed surface can always maintain their normal relative positions.
The disconnecting mechanism can also be formed so that it has a plate which can be moved along the direction of insertion and drawing-out of the card, and the card drawing-out force from the eject lever can be transmitted to the card through the plate.
Further, the eject bar can be provided with a pressing piece in two places along the direction of insertion and drawing-out of the card, and the eject lever can have a pressed piece which can be contacted with the two pressing piece. By doing this, the eject bar and the eject lever can be engaged with each other in the direction of insertion and drawing-out of the card, i.e., both directions.
With an electric connector having an eject bar and an eject lever according to the present invention, to perform engagement of both with each other, a space left in the vicinity of the surface of the flat plate-like eject lever which is in parallel with the card surface is utilized for contacting the plate thickness surfaces (the end surfaces) of both with each other, therefore, the need for an additional space has been eliminated, and the device size has been reduced by the amount corresponding to the space around the side of the eject bar which has been required of conventional electric connectors for card for the engagement. If the space required along the direction of the plate thickness should exceed the space left in the vicinity of the surface of the eject lever, the amount of excess is extremely small, because the engagement is performed within the range of the plate thickness, thus, the effects of the reduction in device size is not deteriorated.